McKINNEY — Like a shepherd, Mike Connaway strolled through the cluttered sanctuary of the old church he saved from ruin.

He stopped for a moment to give praise to the restless flock before him — a slew of construction workers and skilled technicians hustling to get the born-again house of worship ready for its grand opening this weekend.

Plastic was draped over the pews. A metal scaffold stood against a wall. A worker, his arms reaching up from a ladder, tinkered with a stage light above the pulpit. A city fire code inspector had just left, but not before giving a thumbs up to the fire sprinkler system.

Outside, a new wheelchair-access ramp was waiting to be stained.

“We are in a bit of a mess now,” Connaway said, smiling as he surveyed the steady progress still underway. “But we’ve come a mighty long way from where we were.”

In the roughly 15 months since his fledgling VLife Church bought one of McKinney’s oldest churches, Connaway and company have spruced up the overgrown lot, installed new plumbing, put in electrical, heating and cooling systems, refurbished a basement for a children’s ministry and meticulously repaired stained-glass windows that adorn the building.

Other projects are in progress or on the drawing board.

“It is incredible what they have accomplished,” said Ted Wright, president of the Collin County Historic Preservation Group. “If people saw the original picture, it is like a miracle has happened.”

Connaway, 51, bought the building for “a little more than $600,000” in the spring of last year and estimates at least $180,000 has been spent so far to bring it back to life and up to code.

“It’s becoming a new old building,” he said.

The structure, at the downtown corner of Davis and Church streets, once was home to Trinity Presbyterian Church, whose roots trace back to the mid-19th century.

That congregation relocated to the west side of town in 1991 and sold the building to a woman whose personal plans to revive the building never came to fruition.

So the three-story neoclassical chapel sat idle for two decades, with city code officials threatening to condemn it and developers plotting to get their hands on the lot.

But Connaway, a Seattle native who came to McKinney in 2009 and launched his ministry from rented space in Stonebridge, fell in love with the building.

Soon after he began eyeing it, he caught up with the clinical pathologist who owned the old church, laid out his ambitious vision and got her to sell it.

His desire to rescue the long-neglected building from condemnation is a parable that the 6-foot-5 preacher often shared from the pulpit in the months leading up to this weekend’s curtain-raiser services.

“This place was full of junk,” Connaway said in an interview last fall. “Not one thing was worth a penny, except for what was beneath the junk. That’s just like our own lives. We’ve got junk. But you’re not worthy of being condemned or torn down; you’re worthy of being restored.”

The resurrection tale is resonating in McKinney, where a steady stream of worshippers began flocking to Connaway’s makeshift services months ago, even when the heat wasn’t working properly last winter and there was only one bathroom inconveniently located in the basement.

“That’s what we always tell people — you’ve got to hear the story,” said Wendy Norris, who, along with her husband, Mitch, and three children started coming to the church in July. “It’s an awesome story.”

She described Connaway as a formidable, empathetic presence in the pulpit.

“Pastor Mike’s preaching just speaks to me,” said the 46-year-old certified dog trainer,.

Her husband, 50, a regional manager for a Canadian technology firm, relocated to McKinney about a year ago. He and his family went to two other churches, one large and one small, before hearing about VLife and giving it a shot.

“We didn’t want to be church hoppers or anything like that. But it just didn’t work out for us,” he said. “So we visited VLife, and I loved it the very first time.”

He said he was not deterred by the lack of amenities or accommodations found at many modern-day churches

“That’s an attraction for us because I don’t want to be in a cookie-cutter” church, he said. “My kids like it, too.”

Lisa Connaway said her favorite part of reviving the church is the people. She and her husband said they’re aiming for a diverse congregation.

“I like seeing who comes and who’s attracted by this message,” she said.

The pastor said that, at times, he’s taken aback by the multitude of tasks on his to-do list. But each time he begins to feel overwhelmed, “I would pray and someone would show up and offer to do that.

“The biggest challenge for me is to get out of the way and let God do his thing,” he said. “This has been a grace-fullproject.”

Though much work remains, Connaway said, his wife of 30 years helps keep him grounded.

“Lisa said we’ve got to be careful not to finish everything,” he said, “because people love projects.”

What: VLife Church of McKinney grand opening

Where: 301 W. Davis St., McKinney

When: Concert/worship service at 7 p.m. Saturday; open house at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by a “Night of Vision” service at 7 p.m.

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